Budding Friendships

This week we celebrated Valentine's Day. The children who brought in valentines from home delivered those into our mailboxes. At the end of the morning Viviana's grandma helped each child check their mailbox to take home their valentines.

We are seeing friendships budding in the Rocks Class. A child will help another switch into indoor shoes or wait until their friend is finished putting on their coat so they can sit together. As we encourage these friendships, we also remind the children that we are all friends here in the Rocks Class and we are flexible to spend time with everyone.

One place we are encouraging developing friendships is in the blocks area where we have added the challenge of working with a partner. To begin with each pair was divided into a designer and a gopher. The designer is in charge of the plan and building while the gopher supports the builder by fetching blocks when asked to and asking questions about the structure.

This provides opportunities for the designer to speak with a purpose and be heard by their peers and teachers, and for the gopher to listen with a purpose and follow a peers lead. The children switch roles throughout activity time, giving everyone the chance to lead or support another.
Finally we moved on to collaborative work, asking the children to make a plan together before beginning building. This required communication and compromise as, with the help of Ms McHugh, the children shared their ideas and worked toward a common goal.

As the children build block structures they are building friendships and character.